The present invention relates to a safety lock preventing the introduction of a live round to the firing chamber of firearms which eject by automatic, semi-automatic or manual means the spent cartridge case from the chamber of the weapon through an ejection port. A further application of the lock is to block alignment of the cylinder of so-called revolvers with the barrel, preventing firing.
The purpose of the lock is to render the firearm safe when not in its intended use, but to allow its rapid return to such use by quick removal of the lock from the firearm, which can remain with its magazine or cylinder in its loaded state.
An objective of the invention is to disable the firearm to prevent its accidental or unauthorised discharge by persons not in custody of the key separable from the body of the lock inserted in the firearm; yet to render its enablement rapid and simple by use of the key to permit removal of the lock from the firearm.
Another objective of the invention is to enable the custodian of the firearm and the lock to have the lock available at all times by carrying it on a key-ring or similar implement to which the key remains attached until separated from the firearm when the lock is installed in the firearm and to which the body of the lock becomes reattached on removal from the firearm.
A further objective of the invention is to enable custodians of more than one weapon, regardless of calibre or model, to require only one key for all locks emplaced in those firearms by virtue of the common-keying of the locking mechanism, thus preventing confusion among different keys in cases of emergency and inconvenience arising from the loss of the key to a particular lock.